Oswald Peraza Up. Is That The Right Decision?
Who plays third?
Jazz Chisholm is probably out for the year. That sucks. The Yankees are cursed.
Because of the injury, we are now back to a two Oswald(o) roster. Did you forget about Peraza? I certainly did. Here’s how his 2024 season has gone:
April: Injured
May: .177/.338/.323, 26% strikeout rate
June: .238/.343/.298, 24% strikeout rate
July/August: .273/.367/.512, 19% strikeout rate
Not bad! I don’t want to get too excited here. Peraza has over 1,000 plate appearances at Triple-A. The International League has been a bandbox over the last two years. His performance is strong, but nothing crazy. He was hitting well before his 2022 call up as well.
Peraza is a good defender, and has been slowly accumulating more experience at third and second. He’s also better against left-handed pitching, which the Yankees could use. He’s a talented player who just turned 24. Maybe he’ll be good!
But I can’t help wondering if the Yankees made the safe choice, rather than the right choice. Peraza is a pretty conventional big league middle infielder. He’s on the 40-man roster. He has big league experience. Caleb Durbin is none of those things.
Durbin is one weird prospect. He’s listed at 5’6” 185 lbs. MLB.com does not rank him among the top 30 Yankees prospects (which is crazy), despite his .281/.421/.448 batting line at Triple-A with a sub-10% strikeout rate. He has played pretty much every position. He’s fast. There’s a lot to like with Durbin.
There’s also a lot to not like about him. He’s not on the 40-man. He has Luis Arraez-like exit velocity numbers at Triple-A. Arraez manages to get by with incredible square-up skills, but who knows if Durbin has that kind of bat-to-ball control. He’s got a weak arm, so he should probably stay out of shortstop, third base and right field. His ceiling is probably something like Jon Berti - a solid major league player, but nothing special.
This whole discussion could also be moot. Oswaldo Cabrera and DJ LeMahieu are on the roster. The Yankees might choose to play either over Peraza. I hope they don’t make that mistake. Cabrera has gotten some hits lately, but his Statcast line looks pretty consistently mediocre:
LeMahieu has been a little better, but I’m not sure how much I believe it. I don’t get “he’s back!” vibes when I watch him hit:
They might as well give Peraza a shot. He showed such promise 2 years ago. I don't think they should just sit him on the ben. I am higher on Durbin. I like his scrappiness and speed. I think given a chance he can be a solid second baseman or third baseman, but Yanks probably will let him go in the Rule 5. It has become obvious to me that not getting Flaherty and one of the better relievers available in addition to Leiter Jr. was a mistake.